Honor and Blood

He heard footsteps behind him, and glanced at Jesmind as she ducked under the window. She came up beside him and looped her arm around his, leaning against him as she looked down at the city. "Where's Jasana?" he asked absently.

"The day caught up to her," Jesmind replied. "She's sleeping on the couch."

"It's about time. I thought she wouldn't go to sleep until next month."

Jesmind chuckled. "Let's hope that she decides to stay asleep for a while." She looked down. "From up here, it actually looks pretty," she said. "I can enjoy the view without that horrible smell."

"True enough," he agreed. All cities had that pungent miasma of human waste, decay, and moldering stone that all Were-cats found unpleasant. Suld was no exception. But so high up, the odor couldn't reach them, it being dissipated on the wind long before it reached them. "Jesmind, I hope you'll be, considerate for the next few days. You know I'm going to be busy."

"I know, but I'm not going to let you forget about me either," she warned.

"Like I could ever do that," he chuckled, putting his arm around her. "Knowing you're waiting for me is going to make sure I don't forget to come back."

"You don't want me to come looking for you, beloved," she warned in a dangerous tone. "It would be embarassing for you if they see me dragging you back up here by the hair."

Tarrin laughed lightly, squeezing her shoulder. "You need to grow, dear," he complained. "You're too short."

"You're too tall," she countered. "I kind of like you tall, but I miss being able to look right into your eyes without having to look up. It felt more equal that way."

"Well, nothing a few hundred years won't solve," he replied. "I get the feeling I'm topped out. You said we never stop growing, but you also said that once we reach a certain height, the growing slows down to almost nothing. I think I'm there."

"So is mother," she agreed. "She's been the same height for about a hundred years or so now."

"So, you need to catch up with us."

"I will, eventually," she said. "Tell me something, Tarrin."

"What?"

"Are you going to leave me again?"

He sighed. "I don't know for certain yet, Jesmind, but I'd have to say probably yes," he told her. "I still have a duty to carry out, and I don't think I like the idea of taking you and Jasana along with me. It's going to be dangerous, and neither of us want to expose Jasana to danger."

"True enough," she grunted. "But what will happen to her if you're not here to control her magic?"

"Je

He felt her shivering. He realized that she was torn between staying with him and leaving Jasana behind, or staying with Jasana and letting him go. Jesmind's instincts warred with her emotions, but in a moment, she calmed down. He already knew how that turned out. Jesmind couldn't go against her instincts in that ma

"Sometimes we have to let go, Jesmind. But you know I'll come back to you. I'll always come back to you, my love. No matter how many times we have to part, I'll always come back to you."

Jesmind looked up at him, her green eyes soft and luminous, and then she embraced him and gave him a sweet, lingering kiss that conveyed her love for him in the most intimate ma

"What?"

"What do you have against magic?"

Jesmind chuckled ruefully, ru

"How so?"

"Well, she has four children, as you know. Me, Shayle, Laren, and Nikki. I'm the oldest, you know, and when I was born, mother was ecstatic about having a child to pass all her Druidic knowledge down to."

"Ohhh," he said, understanding. "And it turned out that you weren't a Druid."

"Exactly," she sighed. "That was a bitter disappointment to her, to this day. I know she loves me, but it really a

"Sarraya said something about mother tearing off her wings for teaching me," he remembered.

"She wanted to be the one to train you," Jesmind chuckled. "She was so mad at Sarraya that she would have killed her if they'd been in the same room. But she's over it now. She'll just pick up where Sarraya left off, that's all."

"That explains alot," he told her. "A great deal."

"I figured it would. Mother made me so furious with her training, I actually ran away. I was a very independent and unruly cub, even for a Were-cat."

"I can imagine," Tarrin smiled. "I've heard Thean talk about you. I've never heard any stories of your youth, since you're one of the elders, but I can just imagine you as a feisty little hothead."

"That's a perfect description," she gri

"You still do."

"But you love that about me," she teased, flexing her claws in his sides lightly. "It was almost fifty years before I'd even go to a Druid's grove. Even today, I'm a little wary around magicians. It's a conditioned reflex. I'm still not very comfortable around magic, mainly because I see no reason to use magic when you can do the same thing yourself with your own paws. But I'm getting better. I'd better, if I want to live with you."

"Well, I'm flattered that you're willing to change your ways to suit me," he told her.

"I'm not as inflexible as the other Were-cats think, my mate," she gri

"Compromise? Did I just hear the C word come out of your mouth?" he laughed. "Jesmind, the mistress of 'my way or the door,' is saying that she'll meet someone half way?"

"I'm not that bad!" she protested, slapping his side spitefully.

"Oh yes you are," he told her with mischievious eyes. "You're a stubborn, mule-headed witch, so much so that when you dig in your heels, nobody's going to move you from your position. But I like that," he told her with a light smile. "I like strong women. Stubbor

"Well, you've got me, beloved," she purred. "You think you can handle me?"

"I'll give it a good try," he said in a throaty tone, then leaned down and kissed her again.

They stood out on the balcony for quite some time, before the opening of the main door caused them both to look back into the room. Through that ornate door, dressed in a pair of soft trousers and a halter-like half-shirt, was Allia. Her hair was bound up in a single tail behind her, and it bobbed up and down as her keen eyes locked onto him and she suddenly rushed towards him. Tarrin's heart leaped in his chest when he saw his beloved sister, and Jesmind graciously let go of him to allow him to duck back under the window and embrace his long-parted sister. He picked her up and spun her around as she laughed, holding onto him tightly. "Why did you not come find me!" she demanded in Common as he put her back down.